I would surely not tell an enemy I was on my way. That is totally stupid.

NO, NO, NO!!! Don't attack militarily!! Make life in Gaza so unpleasant and miserable, pound into the Gazans' heads why - if they don't know it, already - and then 1."help" the people of Gaza with going after Hamas or 2. let them beg Israel to lower the boom on Hamas. They're, already, making comparisons between life under Israel and now, and there's nothing like inside help.

The worst thing Israel can do now is attack Gaza. In one week of Pali on Pali violence more than a hundred militants were killed. If Israel attacks, the Palis instead of coming out and fight, would instead be hiding behind their women's skirts. In one week Israel would probably kill about 20 terrorists and the whole damn world would want to try Israeli army for war crimes. Most of all, instead of having a hundred terrorosts killed, those cornered would throw away their weapons and surrender to the nearest Israeli patrol. Why? Because they know someday they will be freed by some moronic Israeli leader and they can resume their terror acts upon freedom. Instead of attacking, Israel should let them finish off each other. Why should Israel worry about who is in power in Gaza or West Bank. There are no moderates there whether Fatah or Hamas. They all hate Israel regardless what some dumb moron in the White House or State Department thinks. Hold the fire till as many of them are dead from their own civil war. Rex

Where are the kidnapped soldiers.Where is Gilat Shalit ? Now you wear the IDF Uniform and stand with the IDF front line and wipe the Gaza TERRORIST OUT for good of ALL ! Bring Back Gilat Shalit to his parents : - ) ~

The threat of attack can sometimes be a better deterrent than an actual attack. Hamas doesn't want to lose their entire force in Gaza, so Israel can say, don't do anything, or we'll wipe you out. Hamas would rather bide their time than be annihilated by Israel. IMHO, Israel should wipe out Hamas now, rather than let them continue increasing their offensive capabilities.

suppose we get entangled in putting down one front, what is the next move by Iran. Can we hope Barak has his chess board out? It apparently was not used in 2000. But times and the man can change. Have they?

Do you have to tell them first before the attack, so they can custom make all the skirts to hide? Fortify themselves with women and children? Give them time to shave off their beard and blend in with the locals? What kinda military strategy is this??

Today the world may enjoy another fruit of Arik Sharon's brilliance. Apparently Gaza being the stronghold of Hamas, Sharon may well have envisioned that Disengagement could create a climate where HAMAS would try to flex its muscle and take control of Gaza exactly as they did. HAMAS is only now learning how stupid a move this was as the world regroups to hand millions of dollars over to Abbas, Arab nations and the world trip over each other to recognize Abbas, Gaza learn to hate the HAMAS curse that they brought on theirselves, etc. Ironically even HAMAS cannot escape responsibility for the consequences of their actions. The normal scenario is PAL commit an act of terror. Israel retaliates. The Arabs blame Israel and not the initiator of the original action. Now Israel cannot be blamed (except by those who blame Israel for everything since the Ice Age) and HAMAS is forced to take ownership for their catastrophic mistake. We must give Sharon credit for his brilliance in baiting this trap. If only he would not have cursed us with Olmert. But everyone makes one mistake. Oh G-d why Olmert?

Barak was the one who left south Lebanon, and look what happened there last summer. Why did they ever remove the settlers and leave Gaza to begin with. I don't understand this country.

Advanced weapons, who gave them these to kill Israeli troops with?

He just wants to show-off - pretend to be the "man of action" - This is really part of his political campaign for the next elections. While an attack on Gaza will eventually be necessary, there is no rush. We have many options to make Hamas into a failure & we should use them first to undermine popular support. Let Hamas finish killing off Fatah first - we shouldn't have allowed Fatah men to leave Gaza. We can go in and kill off Hamas later. To a limited extent, we should let them destroy Fatah on the West bank as well. Hamas can do what we cannot which is get rid of Fatah. Our gov't is too stupid to recognize this strategic opportunity. Barak is just an un-principled opportunist looking for self-aggrandizement & his only strategy is for himself, not for the country. In that respect, he fits in well with his collegues who are equally self-serving.

UNLESS U KNOW WHERE THE TUNNELS ARE BEFORE THAN U MUST DESTROY THEM FROM THE AIR before any attack can start dont send our brothers to die if IDF IS NOT PREPARED REMEMBER lebanon G--D HELP ISRAEL

they always write hypothetical cr@p about Israel.

enlisted already in IDF's service or not yet?

If Israel hadnt pulled out of Gaza, Hamas wouldnt have been able to smuggle so much wepons and become so powerful as we see it has today....It was a big mistake, I just hope a full scale war will crush Hamas this time once and for all.

Either they spoke with the wrong person, or Israel just want "to show balls" against Hamas to assure Hamas wont do stupid things against Israel.

its about time we go into gaza to remove all traces of hamas and terrorist from iran and syria who operate within the gaza strip...good luck guys and may your mission be swift..

If you criticized your gov't. the way I criticise mine, they would put you in jail. Nice to live in a free country, maybe someday you'll have the chance to freely express your opinions or any other freedoms for that matter. And re: deterrent & preemptive actions - I don't see what that had to do with my talkback unless you are talking about previous talkbacks for other articles. If that's the case, I believe in maintaining a strong deterrent by taking preemptive action when warranted & it should always be massive, disproportionate, & very painful. As to when or if I will do my military service in the IDF, I'm afraid I'm a bit too old - but you Arabs are lucky I'm not in a position to make policy or I might be looking at you right now from across the Suez.

The minute Israel will touch Hamas,the Abbas Gang will reunite with Hammas and fight the common enemy . Sometimes a Medical Doctor must just watch the patient and not give medicine .

Haverim This has to STOP NOW. THE HAMAS HAS A VERY LARGE ARSENAL of GUNS of all type more is comming from Syria and Iran by sea and from land by Sinai. THE GUNS HAMAS HAS, IS NOT FOR MILITARY PARADES ( ONLY ) ACTION IS TO BE TAKEN NOW. IT IS TIME TO DESTROY THE NEST. At the end this will be a big service to the Palestinians who desire real PEACE with us. Shalom from Houston Alberto

BARAK, make sure the IDF has learned that modern weapons alone cannot defeat the enemy.... sometimes you need to fight them with different tactics which hopefully last summer's little "skirmish" proved. Hamas will resort to Japanese WW2 and Ho chi Minh tactics of gruesome hand-to-hand combat, booby traps, using tunnels to suprise the enemy and kidnap their soldiers, attacking and then hiding behind their own captive civilian population whom they pretend to be fighting for in the first place. But their favorite is to fight.... then cry to the UN for a 48 hour cease-fire which they use only to rearm and regroup. Fight them to destroy them completely this time. After all it was your unilateral withdrawal back in 2000 that caused the mess in the north last summer. You can redeem yourself by taking note of these facts...you owe it to the israeli public and to the soldiers in the IDF. Let the IDF WIN this time!!!!!!!!

I still say that Israel couldn't fight it's way out of a paper bag when the enemy knows all the moves beforehand, thanks to the blabbermouths in the government.

A Warm welcome and Big Surprises are awaiting